Steep Pitch Research Articles

Evaluating temporal sand drift potential trends in the Sistan region, Southeast Iran.

The Sistan region in Southeastern Iran is one of the world's most sensitive areas when it comes to sandstorms and wind erosion. One of the most influential factors in interpreting sandstorms is sand drift potential (DP), which is directly related to wind speed. Accurately, monitoring this phenomenon is still being determined, considering various temporal scales. Therefore, the main aim of this research is to analyze the trend of DP on monthly and annual scales. Our results showed that monthly variations of DP reached the highest and lowest values in July (609 VU) and January (47 VU), respectively. Blowing sand predominantly moved southeast, and the directional index fluctuated from 0.88 to 0.94. The annual DP was measured equal to 2700 VU, signifying a relatively high value when compared to other arid regions worldwide. The trend analysis results obtained from the Mann-Kendall test revealed both positive trends during the period 1987-2001 and negative ones from 2002 to 2016). However, the positive trend was found statistically insignificant. Furthermore, Sen's slope test results demonstrated that a negative trend could be observed with a steeper slope during July, September, and August, while a positive trend could be observed with a steeper pitch during November, December, and June. We recommend that land managers and stakeholders involved in controlling blowing sand using biological and physical methods should consider these trends in the Sistan region. Implementing nature-based solutions or control strategies should focus on these temporal sequences.

Whistle, My Lad, and I Will Come

108 GINA OCHSNER Whistle, My Lad, and I Will Come  n the north country the wind howls over mountaintops, scours steep valleys. A broken jumbled land, here raised high as if an invisible hand had pinched and tugged the hills to their jagged, uneven heights, and there between those mountains deep ravines and valleys of such steep pitch and constriction, horse and cart can hardly pass. These narrows, the old women say, are of the Devil’s doing. Having been banished from God’s heaven, the Devil raked his sharp fingernails beside and between those steep rises. Then, his fingernails worn to nubs, he burrowed like a worm into the limestone karsts and bedrock. There he stewed and fumed. So angry at his fate, so hateful of the good earth God made, from within the bowels of the mountains he hurled rocks toward heaven. Shaped by fury, propelled by pure rage, these rocks punched through the mountainsides and almost broke free. Odd shapes, these rocks, half in the mountain, half out. Erratics, geologists call them. We know them as Devil’s fists. No open fields, no glade or bower. Just rock above and beside us. Scant soil beneath our feet. Houses made of stone and sod tuck into narrow channels of valley sunk in perpetual gloom. Fog hunkers into the dark seams of the narrows, creeps under sill and door-sweep, and this on a summer’s day. A people of frugality and thrift, we love light and keep it in any form we know. From the weariest of embers our youngest learn to coax a roaring fire. My mother was, as her mother was before her, an expert candlemaker, rendering the fat from her animals into long soft sticks of tallow that yielded a wobbling greasy low light. On Ascension Day, Sundays, Good Friday, days when superstition forbids our men from mining in the caves, we process through the narrows to a solitary graveyard on the scablands, a flat bed of flinty rocks, our votives and tapers clutched in our hands as if they are compasses. i 109 Here our solemn-eyed children grow old quickly. Necessity demands they make themselves useful, even in play. Brake of blackberry thorn and bracken, from these they gather kindling; pliant canes become bird cages. They tend high-spirited geese, sturdy-legged goats, and keep pink-eared pigs in byres. They fletch the arrows that pierce the hearts of deer and rabbits who wander unwisely too near. Of formal instruction there is little need. For pity’s sake, to make sure the woman was still alive and her fire well stoked, when I was a child my mother sent me to the hut belonging to a spinster. She taught some of us girls simple arithmetic and read to us from the Song of Roland. Beowulf. Breviaries and bestiaries, she showed us both. The leather and cloth of her precious tomes trembled in her shaking hands. Fanciful creatures unfurled their scaled bodies and taloned claws, or regarded us coolly from behind their regal manes, their great golden wings flapping. What I learned: the beautiful words and pictures in books that moved me to wonder and awe bore little value in a world that preferred the hard logic of what could be touched, counted, measured. Our boys learn everything they need to know from their fathers, who first learned from their own fathers. As early as seven and eight years of age they will go to the cave, descend to the threshold of the mine where the men keep the canaries and teach them tunes they first learned from the wind. They trim the wicks of oil lanterns and of the candles so necessary in the labyrinthine chambers, anterooms that can without warning plummet to deep crevasses or open to a dazzling cathedral of glistening stalagmite. They attend to the pick axes, sharpening them on stone wheels. They throw small rocks at the corpse birds that foretell bad luck in the mines while their older brothers, fathers, uncles toil below . The smaller boys hold the unspooling cordage that marks the way through the interior passages and caverns. It is easy to lose yourself in the...

Experimental seismic performance of a full-scale unreinforced clay-masonry building with flexible timber diaphragms

This paper presents the results of a unidirectional shake-table test performed on a full-scale, single-storey unreinforced masonry building. The specimen represented a typical detached house of the Groningen region of the Netherlands, consisting of double-wythe clay-brick unreinforced masonry walls, without any specific seismic detailing. The building prototype included large openings and a reentrant corner, causing a discontinuity in one of the perimeter walls. The floor was made of timber beams and planks, resulting in a flexible diaphragm. The roof, characterized by a very steep pitch, consisted of a series of timber trusses connected by wood purlins and boards. The two façades perpendicular to the shaking direction were designed to represent two typical gable geometries. An incremental dynamic test was conducted up to the near-collapse state of the specimen, using input ground motions compatible with induced-seismicity scenarios for the examined region. This paper summarizes the main characteristics of the specimen and the shake-table experimental results, illustrating the dynamic response of the structure, the evolution of the damage mechanisms, and the attainment of significant limit states.

The Vaults of St. John the Theologian at Ephesos

E ver since the first excavation of the remains of the church of St. John the Theologian on the hill of Ayasoluk, the reconstruction of the vaulted, sixth-century phase of the monument has been a major challenge in the field of early Byzantine architecture. This is partly due to the historic significance of the building. According to the contemporary account of Procopius, the church, rebuilt and enlarged under the auspices of Justinian, constituted the Ephesian counterpart to the Constantinopolitan church of the Holy Apostles.1 It was later to become the heart of medieval Ephesos and one of the most important pilgrimage churches in Asia Minor.2 Besides its historical interest, the reconstruction of St. John’s has a great significance for the study of early Byzantine vaulting technology. Indeed, reconstruction offers the only opportunity to recapture the form of the enormous brick vaults of the church, which are now lost. These sophisticated vaults, which seem to have survived in an earthquake-prone area for more than eight centuries, constitute a remarkable feat of structural engineering.3 They must have been a highly innovative structure, erected at a time when most churches were timber-roofed. The task of accurate and reasoned reconstruction through the scrutiny of archaeological evidence is more demanding than it may initially appear, in spite of the systematic exploration of the monument since its discovery in 1921. Eight decades of excavation and survey have made the ground plan of the aisled cruciform church as well as the footprint of its atrium, baptistery and skeuophylakion mostly clear (Figure 1).4 Some parts have even become the object of full-scale physical reconstruction (Figure 2). In addition to this, Hans Hormann, Mustafa Buyukkolanci, and Andreas Thiel have shed light on the building phases that preceded Justinian’s vaulted church.5 Still, in spite …

Body density affects stroke patterns in Baikal seals

Buoyancy is one of the primary external forces acting on air-breathing divers and it can affect their swimming energetics. Because the body composition of marine mammals (i.e. the relative amounts of lower-density lipid and higher-density lean tissue) varies individually and seasonally, their buoyancy also fluctuates widely, and individuals would be expected to adjust their stroke patterns during dives accordingly. To test this prediction, we attached acceleration data loggers to four free-ranging Baikal seals Phoca sibirica in Lake Baikal and monitored flipper stroking activity as well as swimming speed, depth and inclination of the body axis (pitch). In addition to the logger, one seal (Individual 4) was equipped with a lead weight that was jettisoned after a predetermined time period so that we had a set of observations on the same individual with different body densities. These four data sets revealed the general diving patterns of Baikal seals and also provided direct insights into the influence of buoyancy on these patterns. Seals repeatedly performed dives of a mean duration of 7.0 min (max. 15.4 min), interrupted by a mean surface duration of 1.2 min. Dive depths were 66 m on average, but varied substantially, with a maximum depth of 324 m. The seals showed different stroke patterns among individuals; some seals stroked at lower rates during descent than ascent, while the others had higher stroke rates during descent than ascent. When the lead weight was detached from Individual 4, the seal increased its stroke rate in descent by shifting swimming mode from prolonged glides to more stroke-and-glide swimming, and decreased its stroke rate in ascent by shifting from continuous stroking to stroke-and-glide swimming. We conclude that seals adopt different stroke patterns according to their individual buoyancies. We also demonstrate that the terminal speed reached by Individual 4 during prolonged glide in descent depended on its total buoyancy and pitch, with higher speeds reached in the weighted condition and at steeper pitch. A simple physical model allowed us to estimate the body density of the seal from the speed and pitch (1,027-1,046 kg m(-3), roughly corresponding to 32-41% lipid content, for the weighted condition; 1,014-1,022 kg m(-3), 43-47% lipid content, for the unweighted condition).

Design Wind Loads on Gable-Ended Low-Rise Buildings with Moderate and Steep Roof Slopes

Wind tunnel model studies were carried out to determine the external wind pressure distributions on large, low-rise buildings with roof pitches of 15° and 35°. The studies showed a significant increase in the magnitude of the mean and peak negative pressure coefficients with an increase in length to span aspect ratio, on the downwind roof and leeward wall, near the windward gable-end of buildings with a steep 35° pitch roof, for oblique approach winds. These oblique approach winds also generate large design wind load effects on the frames near the gable-end. There is little variation in mean and peak pressure coefficients with aspect ratio, across the frame of the building with a moderate 15° pitch roof. AS/NZS 1170.2, which specifies increased suction pressures with aspect ratio on the downwind roof slope and leeward wall of steep pitch roofbuildings compared to the previous edition of the Standard, provides satisfactory design wind load effects on frames near the gable-end. However, some design load effects on frames near the gable-end of the 15° pitch roof building are underestimated by AS/NZS 1170.2.

Synthesis, Conformation, and Metabolism of a Selenium Bilirubin.

A symmetrical C(10)-selena-bilirubin analog, 8,12-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-7,13-dimethyl-2,3,17,18-tetraethyl-10-selenabiladiene-ac-1,19(21H,24H)-dione was synthesized from 8-(2-carboxyethyl)-2,3-diethyl-7-methyl-(10H)-dipyrrin-1-one in one step by reaction with diselenyl dichloride. The selena-rubin exhibited UV-vis and NMR spectroscopic properties similar to those of the parent mesobilirubin, and like bilirubin and mesobilirubin, it adopts an intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded conformation, shaped like a ridge-tile but with a steeper pitch. The longer C–Se bond lengths (2.2 A) and smaller bond angles at C–Se–C (88°), as compared to C–CH2–C (∼1.5 A, ∼106°), lead to an interplanar angle between the two dipyrrinones of only 72°, which is considerably less than that of bilirubin (∼100°) and close to that (74°) of its 10-thia-rubin analog. Despite the conformational distortion, the sensitivity of Se toward oxidation and the typically weak C–Se bond, the selena-rubin is metabolized in normal rats, like bilirubin, to acyl glucuronides, which are secreted into bile. In mutant (Gunn) rats lacking bilirubin glucuronosyl transferase (UGT1A1), glucuronide or other metabolites of the selena-rubin were not detected in bile, demonstrating the importance of hepatic glucuronidation for its biliary excretion.

Synthesis, Conformation, and Metabolism of a Selenium Bilirubin

A symmetrical C(10)-selena-bilirubin analog, 8,12-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-7,13-dimethyl-2,3,17,18-tetraethyl-10-selenabiladiene-ac-1,19(21H,24H)-dione was synthesized from 8-(2-carboxyethyl)-2,3-diethyl-7-methyl-(10H)-dipyrrin-1-one in one step by reaction with diselenyl dichloride. The selena-rubin exhibited UV-vis and NMR spectroscopic properties similar to those of the parent mesobilirubin, and like bilirubin and mesobilirubin, it adopts an intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded conformation, shaped like a ridge-tile but with a steeper pitch. The longer C–Se bond lengths (2.2 A) and smaller bond angles at C–Se–C (88°), as compared to C–CH2–C (∼1.5 A, ∼106°), lead to an interplanar angle between the two dipyrrinones of only 72°, which is considerably less than that of bilirubin (∼100°) and close to that (74°) of its 10-thia-rubin analog. Despite the conformational distortion, the sensitivity of Se toward oxidation and the typically weak C–Se bond, the selena-rubin is metabolized in normal rats, like bilirubin, to acyl glucuronides, which are secreted into bile. In mutant (Gunn) rats lacking bilirubin glucuronosyl transferase (UGT1A1), glucuronide or other metabolites of the selena-rubin were not detected in bile, demonstrating the importance of hepatic glucuronidation for its biliary excretion.

Effect of building length on wind loads on low-rise buildings with a steep roof pitch

A wind tunnel model study was carried out on long, low-rise buildings with a steep roof pitch to determine the effect of the length-to-span aspect ratio on the external wind pressure distributions. The study showed a significant increase in the magnitude of the negative pressure coefficients on the leeward roof and wall, with an increase in aspect ratio, for oblique approach winds. These large suction pressures also generate large design wind load effects on the frames near the gable-end. The 1989 edition of the Australian standard for wind loads, AS 1170.2-1989 was found to underestimate the wind loads on steep pitch gable-roof buildings of aspect ratio greater than 3, on areas near the windward gable-end, and hence the critical bending moments in the supporting structural frames. The current Australian/New Zealand wind load standard, AS/NZS 1170.2-2002 specifies increased negative pressure coefficients on the leeward half of high pitch roof buildings, and critical bending moments in the supporting frames calculated from these distributions agree quite well with values obtained from the wind tunnel study. However, other major standards severely underestimate the critical bending moments, and the effective pressure coefficients producing those bending moments, especially on the leeward roof slope.

Automatically Wrong

Automation-induced errors have been causal factors in many recent aviation accidents. Until this study, no in-flight data were available to investigate the response of commercial pilots in responding to an automation-related accident scenario. As part of an evaluation of airplane upset recovery training approaches, 40 pilots were exposed to an aircraft accident in which automation was determined to be a factor. This accient was the China Airlines Airbus 300–600 accident in Nagoya Japan. The accident occurred during an ILS approach in which the aircraft began a steep pitch up due to an inadvertent activation of the Go Around Mode. A Veridian Learjet in-flight simulator was used to collect the data. An inflight simulator is a flyable aircraft whose stability and control characteristics and inceptor characteristics can be easily varied and changed while flying in order to emulate those of a simulated aircraft. Only twelve out of 36 pilots (i.e., 33%) recovered. Pilots responses in relation to the automation are discussed.

Synthesis and metabolism of the first thia-bilirubin.

A symmetrical C(10)-thiabilirubin analogue, 8,12-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-2,3,17,18-tetraethyl-7,13-dimethyl-10-thia-(21H,23H,24H)-bilin-1,19-dione (1), was synthesized from 8-(2-carboxyethyl)-2,3-diethyl-7-methyl-10H-dipyrrin-1-one in one step by reaction with sulfur dichloride. The thia-rubin exhibited the expected IR, UV-vis, and NMR spectroscopic properties, which are rather similar to those of mesobilirubin-XIIIalpha. Like bilirubin and mesobilirubin, 1 adopts an intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded conformation, shaped like a ridge-tile but with a steeper pitch. The longer C-S bond lengths and smaller bond angles at C-S-C, as compared to C-CH(2)-C, lead to an interplanar angle between the two dipyrrinones of only 74 degrees -or considerably less than that of bilirubin (approximately 100 degrees). On normal- and reversed-phase chromatography, 1 is substantially less polar than bilirubin. Despite this conformational distortion, 1 is metabolized in normal rats to acyl glucuronides, which are secreted into bile. In mutant (Gunn) rats lacking bilirubin glucuronosyl transferase, 1 (like bilirubin) was not excreted in bile.

Medieval Ivories in the Romance Tradition

A group of nine French Gothic ivories are carved with scenes of lovers, trysts, wildmen, and gallant actions. They share an unusual type of landscape setting for the scenes, with the ground plane seen at a steep pitch so that the horizon line is near the top of the scene. A similar approach to landscape can be found in romance manuscripts of the middle years of the fourteenth century, such as the Guillaume de Machaut Remède de Fortune in the Bibliothèque nationale, Paris. The romantic subject matter of the manuscripts and the ivories are related, and many of the costume details of the manuscripts appear in the ivories. It would appear that the ivories were produced to appeal to a public familiar with the traditions of romance manuscripts. One of the scenes on an ivory, that of a hermit reading before his cell, is almost identical to one in the sketchbook of the artist Jacques Daliwe, indicating a possible connection between carvers and illuminators. The workshop that produced these stylish ivories can be dated between 1340 and 1360, and placed either in Paris or northern France.

Equipment, ground control, and safety considerations for thick-seam underground coal mining : Bise, C J; Ramani, R V Min Engng, V35, N2, Feb 1983, P145–151

Two of the major constraints on the development of coal reserves suitable for deep-mining in the western US are the great thickness of the seams and their steep pitch. In the short term, equipment currently available must be adapted for these conditions. The authors analyse the possibilities of using these mining and haulage systems in thick-seam mining. Problems of ground control and safety which are unique to thick-seam working are also examined.

Die Spiralstruktur der Grossen Magellanschen Wolke

The spiral structure of the Large Magellanic Cloud has been investigated using the best spiral indicators (Table I). A clear spiral pattern emerges from the distribution of the optical Hii-regions with diametersD≧25″≌6 pc and the blue supergiants with (U-B)o≦−0.60 (i.e., O-B8 Ia-O to Iab) (Figure 1). This structure is reflected in the distribution of supernova remnants, OB-associations, young open clusters, Wolf-Rayet-Stars and X-ray sources (Figure 3), andM-supergiants. The spiral features emanate from the 30 Doradus Hii-complex as centre and are completely unrelated to the LMC Bar. The structure around 30 Dor is especially well seen in the distribution and even the form (elongation) of the dark clouds (Figure 3). In Section 3 a new interpretation of the 21 cm-line data is attempted based on an analysis of the neutral hydrogen densityN HI integrated over the line of sight. The ridge lines of the integrated 21 cm-line intensities delineate two main features with a half-intensity width of 0.9 kpc, roughly coinciding with the two main optical features. Apart from many differing details the basic structure of the distribution of Hi and of the optical spiral tracers is similar: (1) 30 Dor is the centre of density and starting-point of the spiral features, (2) two main complex arms I and II dominate the distribution, (3) the arms are fragmented optically (Ia-c and IIa-e) as well as in the Hi, start with the same steep pitch angles in directions displaced by about 60° (instead of the usual diametral symmetry of common two-armed spirals) and wind in the same directions. In the discussion (Section 4) it is first shown why the optical Hii-regions with small diametersD<6 pc do not show the spiral structure (Figure 2) due to selection and age effects. The LMC is classified exclusively from the appearance of the spiral tracers as Scp in the Hubble-system (the peculiarity is the asymmetry of the spiral structure) and ScIII-IVp in the DDO-system. Arguments are given to justify such a classification procedure. Similar galaxies may be MCG 4-31-14 and NGC 3664 S(B)IV-V:. The tidal action of our Galaxy is most probably unimportant for the spiral structure of the LMC, certainly so in the inner parts where the features are sharpest. Evidence is presented to support the view that the enormous supergiant Hii-complex 30 Doradus (M H II≌3×105 M ⊙,M tot=5×106 M ⊙) is the nucleus of the spiral LMC. The LMC as a ‘pathological’ spiral helps us to understand together with the disturbed also the normal function of spiral formation. A density-wave type theory of spiral structure is hardly compatible with the observations; an ejection theory appears to be more promising.

IS WEIGH TANK SAMPLING ACCURATE?

A method was developed for checking weigh tank sampling accuracy that was better than comparing samples from different locations in tanks. Long, narrow, deep weigh tanks with a steep pitch in the bottom yielded the most accurate samples. Cube-shaped tanks with a hopper at one corner, and round tanks gave excellent results. High fat milk was more difficult to mix than lower fat milk. Sampling location influenced gain or loss in fat.

On a pillow-lava at Cwm Idwal, Carnarvonshire, North Wales

A spilite pillow-lava occupies the centre of a syncline in the Bala volcanic rocks above Llyn Idwal, which latter lies in a corrie on the west side of the Nant Ffrancon Pass. The pillow-lava forms the steep pitch in the Devil's Kitchen, well known to rock climbers in North Wales. Calcite dissolved from vesicles in the lava is probably an important factor in determining the richness of the mountain flora of Cwm Idwal.

A Stage Attachment for the Metallographic Microscope

Previous articleNext article FreeA Stage Attachment for the Metallographic MicroscopeAlbert D. BrokawAlbert D. Brokaw Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Geology Volume 24, Number 7Oct. - Nov., 1916 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/622387 Views: 20Total views on this site PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

XIV.—Remarks on a Bronze Object found at Lucera, and on the Worship of Pan Lycæus, or Faunus Lupercus

The very singular, or rather, as regards Italy, the unique bronze relique that I have now undertaken to describe and explain, I consider to be the same that was discovered January 4th, 1800, at the steep pitch of the hill just below the castle of Lucera. This we learn from an account of the discovery given by the Cavaliere Onofrio Bonghi, quoted by Gerhard.